


Riverdale

by cashtonflowers



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Ash is Archie, Basically for ppl who watch the tv show:, Cal is Veronica, Death, Drama, Everyone Is Gay, Except ma girlAshley, Highschool AU, Homophobic Slurs, Investigation, LIZ IS A TOTAL CUNT IN HERE IM SORRY, Luke is Betty, M/M, Mike is Jughead, Mpreg, Mpreg Niall, Murder, Mutual Pining, Outcast!Michael, Riverdale, Romance, Self Harm ?, Small Towns, This is basically a 1d/5sos Riverdale au, Unrequited Crush, You don't have to watch the tv show though, idk what to do with her cuz i don't like cheryl lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-04 01:53:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10980885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cashtonflowers/pseuds/cashtonflowers
Summary: Our story is about a town, a small town. But mostly about the people who live in the town. From the distance, it presents itself like so many other towns all over the world. Safe. Decent. Innocent. Get closer though... and you start seeing the shadows underneath. The name of our town is Riverdale. Our story begins, I guess this summer? With what the Blossom twins did. On the fourth of July, just after dawn, Harry and Ashley Styles drove over to Sweetwater River for an early morning boat ride. The next thing we know happened for sure is that Dan Howell and his scouts who were wandering around in the forest came upon Ashley, sitting next to the river's edge and mumbling over only one name; Harry.Or the one where: Harry's dead, Luke's the perfect boy next door, Michael is still a loner but is okay with it, Ashton has changed and Calum is just getting to know them.





	1. The River's Edge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pcybloom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcybloom/gifts).



> Hello friends, so I decided to make a chaptered 5sos/1d story based on a tv show called Riverdale, you can also recognise this concept from Archie Comics. I'd like to highlight the fact that this plot, the characteristics of the characters and some of the scenes all belong to Riverdale's scriptwriters. They did a fine ass job with Season One and I am all in for that. I hope you enjoy the shit out of this cause I just love mixing everything I love together.

"Our story is about a town, a small town. But mostly about the people who live in the town. From the distance, it presents itself like so many other towns all over the world. Safe. Decent. Innocent. Get closer though... and you start seeing the shadows underneath. The name of our town is Riverdale. Our story begins, I guess this summer? With what the Styles twins did. On the fourth of July, just after dawn, Harry and Ashley Styles drove over to Sweetwater River for an early morning boat ride. The next thing we know happened for sure is that Dan Howell and his scouts who were wandering around in the forest came upon Ashley, sitting next to the river's edge and mumbling over only one name; Harry." 

"Riverdale police researched every inch of Sweetwater River for Harry's body but never found it.. So a week later, the Styles family settled on burying an empty casket and Harry's death was considered an accident because of the story that Ashley told: That she dropped a glove in the water and Harry reached down to get it and accidentally tipped the boat and panicked and drowned. As for us, we were still talking about the July Fourth Tragedy but a new mystery at the last day of summer vacation, rolled into town. Calum Hood." 

 

Calum gets out of the black car slowly and stops playing with the thick sleeve of his jacket to close the car’s door, not waiting for their butler. He looks over just to see his mother’s reaction which seems pleasant, he depends himself on that but still doesn’t forget to inhale a whole lot of air to give himself a moment of relief. His mother takes out her fedora and hands it to the man who is standing next to them in a royal manner, looking straight forward like he has the Queen Of England standing next to him and it makes Calum feel like a piece of meat. The man seems to be in his sixties but the way he is walking becomes a little more casual when his eyes connect with his mother, he smiles dearly and then has a small chat with his mother. He just stands back and observes the building. 

It is made out of pure marble and there are flowers carved by it’s sides that do make it look like it belongs to a member of the royal family which Calum and his family are now a thousand miles away from being. He walks forward to the building and feels a firm grip on both of his arms that he just knows belongs to his mother because her nail extensions dig into his biceps while she talks with her jaw tilted up in the sky, “This will warmly welcome you in Cal, it is sight for sore eyes.”

Calum nods and forces out a smile which could easily be mistook for a real one. He loves his mother but it is clear that everything has changed without his father being there and she knows the way Joy Hood rolls, she tries to act strong in situations that are so painful that they start to tear the strongest of human kind apart. He knows that his mother will be able to handle this and hopes that being back in her old home will make her feel at least a little more better. He though, he has no idea about this town and what kind of people live in it and he kind of doesn’t wanna find out, knowing that probably everyone knows about his father’s deal in New York and how he is the devil’s son. 

“Calum, dear, are you hungry?”

He shakes his head a little to wake himself up from his thoughts and then nods as a yes which then causes him to be led into a restaurant that seems to be standing by the 80s’ vibes. He enters slowly and a bell rings as he does, causing him to look up and then keep walking. He walks over to the cashier and orders a burger and then proceeds to the left side of the place, It is lit up by red neon lights and yes, it is hurting his eyes but he doesn’t complain, simply because he has no one to do so. He stops himself when he sees two boys talking, one of them has long curly hair which is light brown and the other one has a quiff with absolutely mesmerising blue eyes. He feels eyes on him but doesn’t stop walking towards them.

“You guys go to Riverdale High,” he asks with a soft smile, he notices that the blue eyed one is staring at him with hatred and he doesn’t say anything about it but he soon notices why when he then realises that the brunette has his own eyes all over him. 

“Yeah we do,” they both say at the same time and then the blond has the need to clarify that they go together. 

Calum nods and proceeds to ask them if the onion rings are good there and the curly haired boy who has introduced himself as Ash says they are the best. He looks back at the blond again and asks him his name. The blond replies with a smile but he can see that he is beyond annoyed, “Luke Hemmings,” he says and then adds that he is going to be giving him his tour tomorrow. He knows something is up with this kid and he is bound to figure out what.

 

The thing is that, a lot of things are wrong with Luke; his crazy mom, his brother Niall that is kept in an institution for the crazy, his crush for his best friend who total oblivious and Louis who was totally crumbling up his sheets earlier that night. He is talking about how Ashton %100 likes him back and how this bound to turn out as a good thing. And maybe Ashton believes him because he believes everything Louis says, he is just a believable guy.

“Listen,” he says, “This guy might be hot, he might be a volunteer for the new team captain but he still has lanky arms and wears bandanas and he still hangs out with Jughead Clifford? He’s still your Ash Luke, and he always will be.”

“I haven’t seen him for the past three months Lou, what if he changed huh? What if he prefers not to hangout with me any more ‘cause he is the captain of the football team?”

“That’s likely,” says Louis but gets back on tracks as fast as he can, “But, he won’t.”

“Why won’t he though? Give me one reason Louis.”

“Because you are hot?”

Luke face palms, “Dipshit, turn around and look at him.”

And Louis does, he stands up, walks over by Luke’s window which is facing Ash’s and gets a peak of the boy getting dressed with his developed abs giving him a show while pulls down the tight white t-shirt he is trying to wear. Louis’ mouth hangs open and Luke nods at him. Louis shouts in shock, “Ash has abs now.”

“No shit Sherlock! And I’m supposed to be seeing him tonight.”

“I don’t understand you two. You are hot, he is hot. Have sex!” 

Luke mutters an "exactly" but doesn't go further than that. He doesn't have romantic feelings for Ashton, it's just a crush but yes, he does love him to death in a friendly way and he would sell his soul for the boy to be okay. He lays there with Louis for a while until his mom storms in and tells him to go to bed since it’s the first day of school tomorrow. He doesn’t listen. He wishes he did though so he wouldn’t have to be stuck in that awkward ass conversation between the really really hot new boy and his best friend. They had been flirting, it was evident but he just let it happen and fell asleep happily, no sad crying time in bed. 

The waking up process hadn’t been as good though, for some reason. Probably because his mom had let herself in again and had thrown his Adderall in his face. He groans quietly because no, just no. He then proceeds to listen his mother’s 30 minute talk about his brother and how she didn’t want Luke doing the same things as him which Luke believed were nothing.

“Luke you know that I believe in you right honey? You know that I love you more than anything and I will never, ever let you end up like your poor brother Niall. Think of him anytime a boy crosses your path okay honey? Think about how than Styles called boy ruined him and his precious being.”

Luke nods silently and lets his mother place his pills in his backpack, “Mom I’m not Niall, I love Niall, I mis Niall but I swear to god, I’m not gonna end up like Niall.”

“Ashton seems to be reminding everyone of Harry these days though, heard some gossip about him becoming the new team captain, don’t let him in your way.”

“Just because Ashton looks similar to Harr-“

“Lucas Robert Hemmings, school! Now!”

Luke sighs and storms out of the room, folding his sleeves in anger as he pushes his bedroom door forward and runs down the stairs, just like he used to do everyday when he and Niall were little kids, the shining stars of Riverdale with no worry of the future and what it had to bring although it must’Ve been their only worry so they wouldn’t have ended up like this. Niall locked up with messed up people and Luke stuck in a town with his brother’s ex’s dead body. 

 

That day in school seems to be passing like flowing water and Ashton has no complains about all of his team-mates literally squeezing his newly made biceps every chance they get but he definitely is against everyone still pushing Michael towards the lockers as they walk, hitting him with their shoulders on purpose. He knows Michael is used to it and he is two times as strong as those guys but he still gets annoyed, he kind of wants to do something but he knows that Michael likes to take care of things on his own. 

And he seems to be doing just fine like always. He watches his old friend fix his beanie and put away his book into his locker, he is about to go ahead and ask him how he is hanging up but he gets interrupted by Zayn, pushing him towards the locker, “Okay Irwin speak up, how much weight lifting huh?”

“Literally none,” he says with a smirk, “It was just my sexy ass face letting my body know that it was ready.”

He then catches a glance of Michael’s face, he looks annoyed and disgusted. He mouths something to him but he doesn’t have the chance to catch what he said when Zayn calls up Liam and they start talking about how many girls they scored during the summer. Ashton does keep his mouth shut during that conversation and keeps his eyes fixed on Michael until Zayn unexpectedly shouts at him, “Hey Jughead!

He tries not to literally jump in between the two and succeeds, he watches as Zayn toys with his beanie and tries to take it off but is stopped by Michael leaning down and walking slowly while stumbling over the word asshole as he tries to find his place in his book. He continues to watch Michael and realises that Luke is walking over to the boy, they start talking and Luke might be proposing something because Michael shrugs and then nods. Ashton watches Luke say, “It will be worth your time Jug, I promise it will,” and walk away, leaving Michael smiling like an idiot.

Then he raises his head and starts walking faster when he hears that the opening ceremony will be starting in less than five minutes. Meanwhile, Luke is trying to find Calum to stop him from attending the ceremony, simply because he has to give him his tour and does no want getting in trouble with Principal Feldman. He does find him eventually even though it takes a lot of sweat out of him because he finds him outside with Louis, sitting by the pond with idiotic smiles on their faces and books in their hands. He melts in their way and informs Calum about the tour which he happily agrees on, even though he had to take it even if he didn’T like the idea.

Luke doesn’t tell him that to not be an asshole. 

They go inside while everyone starts filling up the gym, they stay and wait by the lockers for it to be quiet. When the halls are fully empty Luke smiles and starts talking in a slow and steady pace, “Okay, so, my favourite part of every tour is the history and I will starting with that. Riverdale High was built in 1941 by a famous archi-“

“1941? They had school back in fucking 19-“

“Calum.”

“Huh?”

“Just….”

“Okay,” he finally says with a smile when he sees Luke smiling as well, “Just one more question though, do you guys have any places everyone hangs out in so I can meet some people?”

“Trust me Calum, Riverdale might seem like a secure and cool place but you don’t want to be wandering around partying right now.”

Calum pouts a little and asks the reason. Luke then proceeds to tell Ashley Styles’ story which is shrugged off by Calum with a simple, “No one can tip a big ass boat that is carrying that Ashley what the fuck ever girl in the other side with just leaning down slightly, I smell bullshit. No body? No proof.” 

Luke raises a single eyebrow and processes the theory for approximately 15 seconds and then gives him a slight nod, “You should talk about that to Jughead.”

“Wait wait wait hold up, there is a kid called Jughead here?”

Luke shrugs, “It’s a nickname.”

“Doesn’t it feel weird calling your boyfriend Jughead because I would totally go by his real name.”

There is a blush painted on Luke’s cheeks as he brushes the statement off with a chuckle, “He isn’t my boyfriend, he is Ash’s best friend an-“

“Is Ash your boyfriend then?”

“No, I mean, no.”

Calum chuckles and he throws and arm around Luke’s shoulders, “You totally like him.”

“He totally does.”

They both look back to be faced by Louis who then calls them into the gym because whether if the Back to School Formal is canceled or not because of Harry Styles’ death will be revealed. They run as fast as they can after that and sit down to watch Ashley’s speech. She is wearing a black and tight dress with red lipstick, her hair is not blue anymore probably because of her grief or her parents insisting.

“Thank you being here Riverdale High and welcome back to school,” an applause is heard, “I assume many of you know about my brother Harry’s death and I would like to let you know that every single one of you meant a lot to him and I assume he would want us to spend the year mourning but he would also want us to move on with our lives, which is why I asked the school to not cancel the dance!” 

Everyone starts clapping and they keep on doing so until the bell rings and everyone is off to lunch. Calum follows Louis and Luke from behind and goes down to sit with them after taking the food that's given to him. They sit down slowly and Ashton joins them afterwards with his guitar, he plays a few songs and they all joke about it but secretly like them all. He then has to leave because of his football practice and leaves the three alone, letting them talk about how Ashley Styles doesn’t seem sad at all and how Calum’s theory could be true, maybe he isn’t dead. 

And then when it’s PE and lunch break is finished Calum and Luke decide to sit by the bleachers and talk while doing so, Luke fixes his eyes on Ash while Calum realises that the kid called ‘Jughead’ has his eyes fixed on him. He acts like didn’t as soon as Calum sees him which just causes him to chuckle which catches Luke’s attention, “What?” he asks with a smile which just makes Calum chuckle once more. 

He doesn’t look back to Jughead but he does look at Luke and how gloomy he looks. He doesn’t think Ash is his type of guy. The captain of the football team and Luke, really? He really does think this Jughead kid might have a chance if his name is upgraded into something sexy like: Ashton. And yes, he does realise that Ash is killing it in the practise right now while Jughead is just staring at Luke but he doesn’t mention it, he just wants to know what Jughead is writing down on his computer in such a focused manner after staring at Luke for like 8 hours straight. 

“Calum?” speaks up Luke, startling Calum.

“Huh?”

“You wanna talk about things?”

Calum furrows his eyebrows, “Things like what?”

“How messed up life is, how we are used like horses in a race, how school isn’t good at all and how this should end as quickly as possible.”

“Yeah, I do actually.”

“Okay,” says Luke with a smile, “You go first.”

“Firstly, I think you know why I’m here and how my father got thrown into jail back in New York. Well, we had everything taken from us. Our house, our clothes, even our curtains and my dog Duke. I know I seem fine now but I don’t think I am. I do appreciate the school not giving me the ‘new girl’ shit though, it helps.”

Luke nods and tells Calum about how Niall and Harry dated, how he broke his brother’s heart and how his brother lost his sanity and how he has no idea where he is right now. Calum nods through all his sentences and tells him they both have sucky lives and that’s probably why faith has put them together. Luke smiles at that and stands up when he hears the bell ring again, he glances at Jughead and gives him a small smile which he earns one back instantly, he does not worry his mind on why he was looking at him though. 

When school is over, he runs home after he asks Ash if he will go to the dance with him which becomes an accepted offer and they change quickly and Luke achieves to sneak out without anyone noticing and he an Ash run together. They goof around for awhile before entering the building that has Harry Styles’ yearbook photo hung up everywhere which doesn’t seem very nice under all of those kids dancing, including Ashley. Calum is sitting down with Michael when he sees the two come in.

“Your Katniss is here Peeta, and she brought a good looking Gale.”

Michael looks up at that and sees Luke with his arm around Ashton, he feels his jaw clench and looks down at his laptop again, closing it down with anger and looking back at Calum, “Dance with me,” he says.

Calum looks surprised for a moment but he knows what Jughead is doing this for so he shrugs, “I would, but you have to ask me nicely Holden Caulfield.”

“I can not believe that you just called Holden Caulfield,” he says but brushes it off with a chuckle and then asks Calum to dance with him politely which he agrees on. Michael then proceeds to use Calum’s shoulder a way of spying on the other two. He watches them closely and realises he doesn’t see what he sees in Luke’s eyes when he looks at Ash’s, it’s not mutual. He knows he shouldn’t be happy about this but he has to be. 

“Ash doesn’t like him back,” he whispers in Calum’s ear which he earns a nod for.

Calum pulls back and wraps his arms around his neck to lean in closer, “They are literally standing like 3 miles away from each other and I bet you twenty dollars that Luke thinks that Ash is thinking about kissing him right now.”

Michael chuckles, “You are pure evil Calum Hood, you should forget about Ash and just get in a totally weird straight relationship with Ashley.” 

While they chat Luke is busy trying to get out of Ash’s grip because of their little argument. Here’s the drill: Luke confesses that he likes Ash, Ash says he likes him as a friend, Luke gets his heart broken, Ash wants to explain himself, but Luke won’t let it. Which eventually ends with Luke running out and Ash following him, catching him outside their houses and pulling him back by his wrists. 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles which Luke sighs at.

“Sorry for what Ash? You did nothing wrong, like always, it was me.”

And that’s how Ash ends up in Jughead’s usual booth, sitting in front of him with a milkshake in his hand, Jughead eating his cherry while he talks. 

“And I love him Jug, I really do, but not that way.”

Michael nods at that, “Promise me one thing though.”

Ash tells him to go on. 

“Be a man of your word.”

Ash makes the mistake of not questioning the sentence and agreeing to it.


	2. A Touch Of Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Harry's death has been proven to not be an accidental drowning, the kids at Riverdale High have their suspicions and guesses. Michael Clifford, who would be considered too involved in this ongoing investigation is still working on his novel and he manages to piss his crush off, talk to the first person who ever saw the body and make it up with his best friend. Evil has surrounded Riverdale, and once evil leaves it's fingerprint on the town, it may never be able to take it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't caught up to it yet; The notes on the start are pieces cut from Jughead(Michael)'s novel so I hope that makes more sense now! I also added siam to please my one and only friend who knows who she is and if she is reading this; ILY

"I think many of us, maybe the entire town had been hoping against hope that Harry Styles hadn't drowned on July 4th. When we'd come to school Monday morning and there Harry would be. Or that we would see him and Ashley sitting in their booth at Pop's. But that was before the undeniable irrevocable fact of his dead body, a corpse with a bullet hole on his forehead and deep secrets that could only be revealed with the doctors doing their jobs and working on his autopsy results, secrets only belonging to one person and their guilty heart beating rapidly."

 

Luke wakes up the next morning, the morning after learning that Harry hasn’t drowned, he was shot and rubs the lower points of his palm onto his bloodshot eyes. He stares at his ceiling for a minute straight and decides to put his single day of the weekend into good use. He gets dressed quickly into one of his blue and white flannels and buttons it up with struggle, humming an unknown song. The entire week has been torture for him but is now used to having tension in between him and Ash and has actually made it disappear a little. He is okay with the fact that Ash doesn’t like him back now and has convinced himself that they were never meant to be anyway. 

So he doesn’t worry his head on anything but Harry Styles’ murder now and he is currently dressing up to go see Calum and tell him that he was wrong, Harry Styles is dead. He also wants to go and see Michael but he doesn’t no where he lives. He has no idea where the hell one of his favourite people lives. He doesn’t make a big deal out of it though and tries to quietly sneak out of his life but is caught by his mom who starts talking about how Harry Styles’ murder could make the greatest story of all time in the newspaper. Luke doesn’t let her go further though and just excuses himself out of the conversation, taking almost five steps back and then just running to Pop’s so he can go see Calum. 

He runs and runs but doesn’t get too sweaty cause of the average weather in Riverdale which is good for him cause he really hates smelling. He does arrive at the exact time they have set and sees Calum with a milkshake in his hand waiting for him, offering him a heartwarming smile when he sees Luke walk in, “Nice one Hemmings, right on time.”

Luke tips his invisible hat and dives into the subject immediately, “Louis and Zayn found Harry’s body in the river’s edge this Saturday and they claim on him having a bullet hole on his forehead which means Ashley was lying, which means she is hiding something, protecting someone.”

Calum nearly chokes on his milkshake and snaps his fingers together twice, “Hold up brother, what the hell were Zayn and little Louis doing together at the river huh?”

“Honestly,” says Luke, rolling his eyes, “Whatever, I’m planning on writing about this on the school magazine.”

“The school has a magazine? This town is honestly twin brothers with Winston Churchill.”

Luke chuckles and feels the need to clarify that the newspaper Blue & Gold hasn’t been used for a while and he is planning on being the one to get it right back on track. Calum agrees on the idea but tells him that he can’t have any part in the writing stuff at all because he is shit at it and earns a sarcastic remark from Luke who chats on how he wasn’t planning on including him into it anyway, Calum does flick some cream on him. He notices Calum winking at Michael who is sitting in the booth behind them but doesn’t mention it and goes home, researches a bit and wakes up the next morning with a groan, just like always. 

Another basic day of school doesn’t hurt Luke yet it hurts Michael Clifford, watching everything from afar and especially focusing on Luke like he always does, not in a creepy way though, a hurt way. He doesn’t feel things often, but when he does, they’re for Luke. He just can’t tear his eyes away from the boy at certain situations, again, not in a creepy a way. He doesn’t mention him in his novel too much because he doesn’t want it to contain too much information on his personal life, just the ones in Harry’s and the ones involved in his death.

Michael sees Ash across the hallway and decides that its better if he just talks to someone anyway instead of acting entirely isolated from the society of Riverdale, “You think that I can use Harry Styles as an excuse to get out of PE? ‘Sorry coach, I’m just too gloomy to run.’”

Ash just shakes his head with a laugh while placing his shit into the locker and places his hand on the boy’S shoulder in a “bro”ly manner, “You gotta start taking shit seriously Jughead.”

That gets a laugh out of Michael, “Since when did you start calling me Jughead huh?” he adds, stressing the “you”, “The football team has sucked you in hasn’t it?”

Ash doesn’t take him too seriously but that touches him deep inside, Michael feeling like they’ve grown apart. His old best friend feeling like they are just strangers now does things to him but he doesn’t worry about it too much, “They aren’t that bad Jug- Mike, they aren’t exactly your type of people but-“

Michael crosses his arms at that but doesn’t look like he cares that much at first, “What do you know about my type of people huh? My type of people? My type of people identify as people, not human shaped parrots that repeat the same old slurs and sex jokes over and over again.”

Ans Ash agrees, he has a point but he doesn’t have the urge to speak up before the bell rings, which is just an excuse for his old friend Michael Clifford to slip away again, once again. He is now getting sick of Michael slipping away from his finger tips, the night at Pop’s it felt as they were 14 again, lying together in Michael’s tree house with no bad vibe whatsoever. But when they are back in school, he is always playing football and Michael’s always gone, not there, invisible from Ash’s eyesight and for some reason, Ash cares. He starts walking slowly to his class and gets hit on the shoulder by two boys while they run to their own class but doesn’t make a big deal out of it and nods as they apologise, he does stop when he hears Principle Feldy’s name though. 

“Morning students of Riverdale High, it’s your Principle Feldman speaking,” he says like a robot into the megaphone, “They’ve been many questions about the upcoming sports tournaments, let me stay clear there, it’s happening as scheduled. Now, I would like to give your attention to Sheriff Deakin.”

There is a moment of silence before the sheriff starts speaking, “Most of you already know the details,” he says calmly, “But your classmate Harry Styles’ body was found late Saturday night so after that discovery, Harry’s death is now being treated as a murder. It is an open and ongoing investigation, and if you know anything that could help us on this heartbreaking conflict, we urge you to speak up as soon as you can. Have a nice school week.”

Ash doubts he will have a good school week but he keeps on walking to the class, just faster this time.

 

Michael realises how weird Ashley has been acting lately, how she has been answering questions about her brother’s death like they are a joke and like she hasn’t lied about it before. Michael makes sure to write these details down in his computer, but he isn’t suspicious of her in particular, he is suspicious of the Styles family as a whole. They certainly do not look like a stable family but again, what does Michael know about stable families when his dad is probably drunk off his ass right now with his gang his little sister is miles away with his mom that sees him as a disappointment.

Harry Styles wasn’t a good kid but he still was only 17, he was sure a story but he wasn’t a hero. He was the old captain of the football team and he always had a couple of assholes patting him on the back after a good sex story or just any offensive thing he said. He had long curls around his ears and bright green eyes. Michael did find him attractive but he also knew he wasn’t a nice person. He has described him in the book and has realised how similar he is to Ash right now, his supposed best friend. 

The cafeteria is once again crowded except the table he is sitting by himself, a loner blocking out all the white noise that surrounds him and just simply not giving a shit. A kid from the wrong side of the tracks eating his sandwich and staring at the perfect boy he has a stupid crush on, holding in his urge to not just go over there and tell him how he feels because he knows, Michael knows, he will be rejected. He does like the idea of his feelings being mutual though, being able to have Luke’s hand wrapped around his would sure feel right but the blue eyed boy is staring at Ash and he still calls Michael Jughead which means that the loner has a way to go. 

He thinks about him for the rest of the lunch break and during the classes like always. He takes a couple of notes but he is focused on blonde fringe that block his sight of the board and doesn’t complain because this is probably the the closest he can get to Luke, in their biology class with him as Ash’s partner. Ash’s partner. He decides that biology is shit as well and packs his back as quickly as he can when the bell rings, putting on his ear pods an turning the volume up, as high as he can so he can block out everything once more. 

He does see Louis Tomlinson on his way home though with his hair styled as a mop of curls and his eyes circled with various shades of purple and blue, they aren’T from being beaten up though, they are from sleeplessness. Michael runs over to him and takes his EarPods off as soon as he reaches him, he places a hand on his shoulder and talks softly, softer than anyone would expect him to talk, “You- are you okay?”

“I wouldn’t say so after seeing a huge hole on my ex crush’s forehead while Zayn did nothing but scream. And when that boy screams Jughead, he makes my ears hurt like two fucking bitches.”

Michael smiles at that but forces it back down, “Listen Lou, I know that’s a pretty disgusting and horrifying thing to see but I’m trying to write a novel about this an if you could just describe it to m-“

“I will Jug, I will. Just not now okay? I need a milkshake, a big one. Pop’s tonight?”

Michael nods but proceeds to suggest if he is up for it now at Pop’s because he is gonna be there anywhere which just makes Louis sight and nod. They walk to Pop’s together, Michael sharing his Earpods with Louis and the blue eyed boy making comments on how the violent music Michael listens to hurts his ears more than Zayn’s scream. Michael chuckles at that and when they finally alive, he waits for Louis t gently hand him his left EarPod. They walk into Pop’s and gently smile at Calum’s mom before sitting down. 

Michael takes his phone out and opens the voice recorder, he then informs Louis about how he has to do this in order to get everything in. Lots nods and says he is okay with it. Michael smiles at him and asks his first question, “What were you doing by the edge of Sweetwater River on Saturday night.?”

“Oh god, is that really necessary?” whines Louis but just receives a nod and shrug from Michael.

“Fine. I was with Zayn Malik and we were discussing something..”

“Discussing what?”

“Liam Payne, we were discussing Liam Payne. Zayn has a huge crush on him and we were discussing whether if he was straight or not but do not but this in your book because it has nothing to do with the murder and I will skinned alive. Whatever, we were having a nice discussion and I was about to beat him up because of his oblivious behaviour so it eventually ended and he was like ‘Man, having a crush is hard.’ and I was like, ‘Fucking sophisticated rich boy.’ and we laughed it off and headed to the river for a night swim but were greeted with a body instead.”

Michael nods and encourages him to go on.

“It was Harry Styles and he was crazy pale and he had his eyelashes literally frozen, the river wasn’t even cold though which was weird. His eyes were shut but not fully and the most important part was that he had this big hole on his forehead but it wasn’T like carved in his brain or something, he was shot. Harry didn’t drown, he was shut, and my step dad is waiting for autopsy results right now which is a super stressful time for the Styles because I mean, it’s their son and it’s Ashley’s brother and like imagine losing such a big part of your life.”

Michael is probably supposed to imagine losing his mom, his dad, or his sister but he imagines losing Luke and has to just take a deep breath to get over the thought but is just pushed into it harder when he sees him, Luke, that is, walk in with Calum. He tears his eyes away from them and tries to focus on what Louis is saying but it’s just like his biology class, when there is Luke in the room, he can’t focus on anybody else. He doesn’t focus on Louis but he smiles back at him when he finishes and smiles.

Louis is not an unattractive dude and he’s not a bad person either but he still doesn’t feel anything for him whatsoever other than a supposed friend, just someone he can have by his side anytime he needs so. He can’t even do that with Ash now and he is supposed to be his best friend. Maybe he doesn’t even have friends now, maybe he is just that lonely. Maybe he doesn’t care though, maybe all he cares about is Luke and maybe that is crazy because he is sure Luke sees him as spitted out gum that’s stuck on the sidewalk and maybe that’s okay, maybe it makes sense.

Louis leaves after ten minutes or so but Michael puts his EarPods on, so that he can listen to the recording and write on it. He pulls out his computer from his bag and starts writing as fast as he can, he gives all his focus into it and doesn’t even notice Calum leaving Pop’s and Luke coming to sit in front of him because his computer blocks his sight of anything. He doesn’t notice the blond until he notices something on his computer screen, a finger, Luke’s finger. He lets out a silent scream fall down his mouth which he then is embarrassed by but just makes Luke giggle, and hearing Luke giggle is worth everything. 

He takes his EarPods off once again and smiles like a goof, “Well well well Luke Hemmings, which wind has dropped you off in this very particular booth huh?”

Luke shrugs and steals Michael’s cherry from his pristine strawberry milkshake, “Saw you here alone and thought you’d like some company.”

Michael stares down at his computer screen and mutters the last sentence he has written on it, “If you have been brutally broken, but still have the courage to be gentle to others, you deserve a love deeper than the ocean itself.”

The boy beside him just frowns and asks him what he has just said.

Michael looks up at Luke with a stern look on his face and speaks in an ice cold manner, “Luke, you know that I’m writing a novel on Harry Styles’ death right?”

“Yeah?”

“I know this might be hard for you but I need to ask you about your brother, Niall.”

“Jughead I can’t talk about Niall, you know I can’t.”

“Why though Luke? Why can’t you?”

“Because I don’t really know.”

And just like that, Luke gets up and leaves Pop’s but Michael stays seated, staring at his one and only friend, his computer. 

He comes to school the next day earlier than he usually does and decides to sit down and relax a bit but he is interrupted by Calum. The boy sits next to him and shuts his computer down which just makes him sigh in defeat. He asks him about how it went with Luke the other day and Michael just shrugs and responds with, “Not as expected.”

They keep on chatting for awhile but stop when the football team arrive, including Ash who seems to be distracted by his teammates that he doesn’t even notice the two. Zayn talks loudly when he does and it’S quite hard to not eavesdrop, “And Sheriff Deakin is asking us questions? Man, that guy should talk to his own son like what the fuck.”

Michael just wants interrupt his stupid talking and tell him that he probably already did and Zayn was the first person to see the dead body of Harry Styles so it makes sense that he is being questioned but he holds himself back because it’s Zayn Malik, he doesn’t wanna get beaten up. He knows that Ash has a match that night but he doesn’t know if he can be there because he is sure Luke will be. He can’t risk making him upset again so he decides that it is better if he just stays out of it. 

He stands up softly to not frighten Calum or anything while they’ve been so silent and grabs his computer, he says his goodbye to the Maori and starts walking towards the door and hears Zayn shout something behind his back, and for the first time ever, he doesn’t look back.

 

Michael ends up going to the match but stays under the bleachers and hides there, he watches silently. There are five minutes left until the match ends and the pressure is on. Riverdale High and the guests have an equal score and one goal could change everything. Ash is looking particularly good while playing and he is sure that Luke is enjoying the sight. Who wouldn’t enjoy and shirtless Ashton Irwin anyway?

He watches as his old friend grabs the ball and scores it as fast as he can. The atmosphere changes, the whole school screams except him and he just turns his head over to see Luke’s reaction, he expects to see him screaming and jumping like the others but instead he has his eyes fixed on him. The blond’s cheeks heat up as soon as he realises that he has been caught but it just makes Michael smile. 

He is forced to rip his eyes out of him when he feels a tight grip on his shoulder and turns around to see Ash. He is sweaty and has his win curls sprayed on his face, his hazel eyes only show brown under the darkness and his lips are painted up in a smile. He looks good and Michael is confused. Ash doesn’t say anything though, he just hugs Michael as tightly as he can and mumbles something on his neck that Michael can’t quite figure out. Then he tears his grip away and smiles again, “And that’s why you are my best friend.”

And suddenly, what Ash said before doesn’t matter anymore.


End file.
